


Oil and Water

by Crystalshard



Series: Clone Wars: Reconstruction Corps AU [14]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bacteria - Freeform, Bioengineered disease, Clone Trooper Inhibitor Chips (Star Wars), Gen, Illnesses, Medical Procedures, Prokaryotes, it's okay they're all going to be fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalshard/pseuds/Crystalshard
Summary: After Fives reveals the existence of the Kaminoan biochips, the clone medics and Jedi healers agree that the chips must be removed. They figure out a way . . . but it requires infecting the entire army with a bioengineered bacterium.Some troopers - including Cody - are crankier than others about being sick. Obi-Wan does his best to help.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: Clone Wars: Reconstruction Corps AU [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048891
Comments: 27
Kudos: 218





	Oil and Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cac0daemonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cac0daemonia/gifts).



> This is a gift for Cacodaemonia, who isn't feeling too well right now. Feel better soon!

Clones, Obi-Wan reflected, were simultaneously the best and worst patients in the Republic. 

On one hand, they would (mostly) obey their medics and understand the necessity for rest and recovery when they were ill. 

On the _other_ , they got bored far too easily. And when there were multiple sick troopers, the problem grew. Exponentially. 

"Incoming!" 

Obi-Wan sighed, twisted in his chair, and batted the yellow balloon back to the group who were recovered enough to play. Waxer waved a hand in thanks, passing the balloon to Boil, who sent it on its way to a brother on the other side of the hospital ward. It was good to see them active enough to entertain themselves, even when they were mostly still flat on their backs. 

From the bed next to Obi-Wan, Cody made a grumpy, wordless noise. 

"I know," Obi-Wan said, turning back to his sick commander and wiping a cool cloth over Cody's sweaty forehead. "You're not used to being unwell, are you?" 

"Kaminoans engineered us with pre-programmed immune systems," Cody rasped, coughing as his body objected to his attempt to talk. 

"Which is why we had to piggyback the anti-chip prokaryotes on a bacterium strong enough and different enough to get past your natural resistance," Obi-Wan reminded him. "And before you start worrying again, every non-clone on this space station - including me - has been vaccinated against the carrier bacterium." 

"What about -" Cody coughed again, "- the anti-chip stuff?" 

"Unless one of us has suddenly acquired the exact same biochip as we found in you, then it won't affect us at all," Obi-Wan said firmly. 

"Mmmm." 

It was debatable whether Cody had actually absorbed the explanation this time, but Obi-Wan was willing to keep giving it as many times as necessary to reassure his troops. They'd all been more worried about him than about themselves when he'd been to visit the other wards, despite the sickness ravaging their bodies. A sickness that every single one of them had agreed to undergo when they found out that it would destroy the chips in their brains. Their trust and bravery still floored Obi-Wan whenever he found a moment to think about things. 

When Fives had uncovered the chips, it had sent shockwaves through the GAR. To no-one's surprise, every soldier wanted it gone as soon as possible, and the clone medics, Jedi healers, and civilian doctors had joined forces to make it happen. (Some of the civilian doctors had proved to be in Palpatine's pay, but they'd been discovered soon enough when their colleagues had noticed the discrepancies in their work. Obi-Wan didn't like to remember those times, when it seemed sabotage would prevent any of their efforts from paying off.) 

Once they'd filtered out those who didn't have the clones' best interests in mind, the medical teams came to two conclusions immediately. One, it wasn't practical for several million men to undergo brain surgery, as there was too great a risk of something going wrong. Two, using an EMP was out of the question, as the chips ran on the bioelectricity generated by the brain itself. 

In what Obi-Wan suspected was a Force-engineered coincidence, the key to destroying the chips came from an oil spill on Manaan. One of the civilian doctors, a Selkath named Shawaeni, brought it up on her lunch break as her team sat refueling themselves for what Kix had described as 'another day of all talk and no progress'. 

Shawaeni had casually mentioned that her cousin had contacted her the previous night, letting her know that her family was safe from the oil spill. "And," Shawaeni had said, "they got the oil-eating prokaryotes into the water fast enough to save the local ecosystem. It's awe-inspiring, watching those little bacteria eat things." 

There had been a pause, and then Shawaeni and one of the Jedi Healers had exchanged an incredulous look. 

From that idle comment, the design for a prokaryote that would eat the biochip - and only the biochip - had been born. It had actually taken them longer to design the delivery system than it had to build the chip-destroyer, the clone medics volunteering blood samples to test each variant on. 

After that, it had been easy enough to designate one of the Republic medical stations as a quarantine zone where they could deliberately infect the troopers. 

"How's he doing?" asked a quiet voice, breaking Obi-Wan out of his reminiscences. 

Startled, Obi-Wan looked up to see a clone medic with a buzzcut and a tattoo on his forehead standing on the other side of Cody's bed. Hazmat? No, Hazard. Obi-Wan glanced back down at Cody, who'd quietly fallen asleep while Obi-Wan mused over recent history. "Somewhat cranky, but no worse than any of the others," he reported. "How many do you think will be able to head to recovery quarters tomorrow?" 

Hazard surveyed the room with narrowed eyes. "I might send some out the day _after_ tomorrow. I want them able to walk further than the 'fresher before I consider releasing them." 

"Quite so." Obi-Wan rolled to his feet. "Have there been any complications with the destruction of the chips?" 

"Some, mostly cases where the chips were left partially intact when the patient's immune system cleared out the disease faster than we expected. The majority cleared up with added doses of the prokaryote, but we had to operate on one or two. They're all in recovery." 

A weight lifted off Obi-Wan's shoulders, one he hadn't realized was there until he noticed its absence. "Good. I must say, I'm glad I've had the vaccine. This illness looks particularly unpleasant." 

Hazard shot him a dry look. "It is. Putting the medics through it early is working as far as caring for our units goes, but you haven't heard grumbling until there's a group of medics doing it." 

There were multiple things that Obi-Wan could say about that. Unfortunately, the majority were the kind of thing that Anakin would blurt out, and Obi-Wan found diplomacy to be a better tactic nine times out of ten. "That reminds me, how are the medics from the 91st doing?" 

"As well as any of the others. Is General Windu still on schedule?" 

Obi-Wan thought back to that morning's updates. "Yes, he should be here in four days with the rest of the 91st." 

A groan from the bed between them interrupted them. "Go talk somewhere else," Cody ordered. "'M sleeping." 

Obi-Wan smiled, brushing a damp lock of hair off Cody's forehead as he did. "As you wish, Commander."


End file.
